Triumph TR2 Jabbeke Speed Test
In May 1953, two months before the TR2 went into production, Standard-Triumph had one timed on the Jabbeke motor road in Belgium at more than 200 km/h over a flying kilometre. The factory's own table of the runs, what the car was, and what became of MVC 575.
On a Belgian motor road in May 1953, before the first production TR2s were finished, Standard-Triumph set out to show what its new sports car could do. The road was at Jabbeke, and the driver was Ken Richardson, Standard's chief test driver; the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium did the timing. Paul Richardson, writing in Moss Motoring in 2003, gives the day as 20 May. The rest of the Triumph TR2's history follows from here.source 1source 2source 3source 4
The runs (factory table, December 1953)
Sources for MVC 575
Triumph Motor Company (1945) Ltd, Triumph T.R.2 Sports Car (sales brochure), Rep. 12.53 (Dec 1953)source 1; Bill Boddy ("W.B."), "Stop Press – A Fast Triumph", Motor Sport, Jun 1953, p. 50source 2; British Motor Museum and National Heritage Memorial Fund (as published by the TR Register and the FBHVC), Press release: the Jabbeke TR2, MVC 575, acquired by the British Motor Museum, 10 Mar 2020source 5
Each speed in the factory's table is the mean of two runs, one in each direction, over a measured distance entered at speed.
| Trim | Over the flying kilometre | Over the flying mile |
|---|---|---|
| Speed trim: a metal tonneau, an undershield and overdrive | 201.005 km/h (124.889 mph) | 199.711 km/h (124.095 mph) |
| Touring trim, hood (soft top) up, with the undershield and overdrive | 184.889 km/h (114.890 mph) | 183.807 km/h (114.213 mph) |
| Touring trim, hood up, with the undershield, without overdrive | 175.353 km/h (108.959 mph) | 174.611 km/h (108.499 mph) |
The Triumph T.R.2 Sports Car, driven by Ken Richardson, chief test driver for the Standard Motor Co., Ltd., reached a speed of 124 m.p.h. on the famous Belgian Jabbeke Highway. The car was in high speed trim and was timed by the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium.
Bill Boddy rounded the slowest figure to "108 m.p.h., hood up and sans overdrive" in Motor Sport that July, and Motor Trend's test of May 1954 printed two of the factory's figures with their labels swapped and a third that is in no factory table, so its list is no guide.
The car: MVC 575
Its registration was MVC 575. It ran at Jabbeke before production began, so it was built before the first production TR2s. Its commission number and build details are not given in any source read, and nor is what became of it between 1953 and the mid-1970s.
The car's history below follows it from the runs to Gaydon. When the British Motor Museum unveiled it in 2020, the head of collections of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust explained why it mattered:
The Jabbeke TR2 record car is a perfect example of the lengths that motor manufacturers were going to, in order to restore their markets and promote their products in the post war years.
A car lettered "Jabbeke Special" in South Africa is on famous Triumph TR2s.source 1source 3source 5
In print, 1953
Motor Sport had the news in its June issue, on its stop-press page.
This is a staggering speed for a car the basic price of which is only £555, although presumably the production version will not be quite so quick, as the engine used in Belgium gave 93 b.h.p.
Jabbeke was where makers proved their sports cars. In July Boddy set the Triumph's figures beside the Jaguar XK120's 212 and 225 km/h (132 and 140 mph), the Sunbeam Alpine's 193 km/h (120 mph) and the 179 km/h (111 mph) of an Austin-Healey 100 in slightly specialised form, and noted that streamlined panels and undershields had been declared, and overdrive for the Triumph. The factory put the runs at the centre of its brochure that December, and its American company was still leading its advertising with them in 1954.source 2source 6source 8
Where it has been
- 1953
Prepared in "high speed trim" for the Jabbeke runs
May 1953. Overdrive, a metal tonneau and an undershield, by the factory's own account. The brochure's photograph of the car shows its plate ending "575". The speed-trim parts were then sold as extras: the same brochure lists undershields, rear wheel covers and a metal tonneau cover
Triumph Motor Company (1945) Ltd, Triumph T.R.2 Sports Car (sales brochure), Rep. 12.53 (Dec 1953)source 1
- 2015
Bought by a private owner (UK) and restored
A TR Register member and restorer, who restored it in "just under two years"; the car had been seen at TR Register events and AutoTests since the mid-1970s
British Motor Museum and National Heritage Memorial Fund (as published by the TR Register and the FBHVC), Press release: the Jabbeke TR2, MVC 575, acquired by the British Motor Museum, 10 Mar 2020source 5
- 2017
Taken back to Jabbeke
British Motor Museum and National Heritage Memorial Fund (as published by the TR Register and the FBHVC), Press release: the Jabbeke TR2, MVC 575, acquired by the British Motor Museum, 10 Mar 2020source 5
- 2020
Unveiled at the British Motor Museum, Gaydon
10 March 2020. Bought for the museum with a grant of £250,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. The museum's press release calls the 1953 run "a record for a two-litre road car at that time" and gives 124.783 mph, a figure that matches none in the factory's table of the runs
British Motor Museum and National Heritage Memorial Fund (as published by the TR Register and the FBHVC), Press release: the Jabbeke TR2, MVC 575, acquired by the British Motor Museum, 10 Mar 2020source 5
Results
- 1953
Jabbeke speed test 1953
May 1953, Jabbeke motor road, Belgium. Ken Richardson: timed: in speed trim with overdrive, over the flying kilometre and the flying milesource 1source 2
Sources
Every source the site cites is on the sources page.
- Primarymade at the time, by the maker or by people who were there
- Referenceserious later work: clubs, specialists, magazines, books
- Triumph Motor Company (1945) Ltd, Triumph T.R.2 Sports Car (sales brochure), Rep. 12.53 (Dec 1953), p. 6, the table of the runs; the caption naming Ken Richardson; p. 6, the table of the runs (page image); "Optional Extras"; the photograph of the car; pp. 5-6; p. 6, table of the runs. Primary
- Bill Boddy ("W.B."), "Stop Press – A Fast Triumph", Motor Sport, Jun 1953, p. 50, p. 50. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/june-1953/50/stop-press-a-fast-triumph Primary
- Paul Richardson, "TR2 Golden Anniversary", Moss Motoring, 1 Mar 2003, 20 May 1953; the car's preparation. mossmotoring.com/tr2-golden-anniversary Reference
- Revington TR, "Technical Specification Change Points" (TR2), 22 July 1953. revingtontr.com/the-tr-series/tr2/technical-specification-change-points Reference
- British Motor Museum and National Heritage Memorial Fund (as published by the TR Register and the FBHVC), Press release: the Jabbeke TR2, MVC 575, acquired by the British Motor Museum, 10 Mar 2020, the 2020 figure; Stephen Laing. old.tr-register.co.uk/article/2020/03/0220/Jabbeke-TR2-arrives-at-British-Motor-Museum Reference
- Bill Boddy, "The Sports Cars of Britain", Motor Sport, Jul 1953, p. 19, p. 19, "108 m.p.h."; other cars at Jabbeke; p. 19. motorsportmagazine.com/archive/article/july-1953/19/the-sports-cars Primary
- Walt Woron, "Driving around with Walt Woron: Triumph TR-2", with "The Story in Figures", Motor Trend, May 1954, pp. 39–41, 51, its list of the Jabbeke figures. Primary
- Motor Trend, Triumph advertisements (group): Standard-Triumph Motor Company Inc. (Apr 1954); Cal Sales Inc. (Aug and Sep 1954), Apr, Aug and Sep 1954, Standard-Triumph Motor Co. advertisement, April 1954. Primary